Val's Corruption by Cadence (or, Some Drabbles)
by ZG Vallea
Summary: *UPDATE* Pack Three is now added, so now you can still marvel at the idiocy that is my drabble-skill. Some het, some shounen ai, some of everything.
1. Pack One

**Pack One**   
  
  
- one -   
  
It must have shocked him to the core, that day, when she came into the room with something other than her usual white uniform on. Mind-boggled, and more than just a little flustered, he kept asking why.   
  
"I don't understand..." And he'd look at her with astonishment each time, like seeing her for the very first time.   
  
Maybe it was for the first time. But of course she didn't think it was odd.   
  
"It's just a little change," she said. But was that it?   
  
She wore jeans and a white T-shirt, shrugged, and told him, "I had long hair once."   
  
  
- two -   
  
"My favorite color?"   
  
He could be so weird, sometimes, asking random questions out of the blue. Like, what's your favorite food? Have you ever played the violin before? Do you know who the Yankees were? Stuff like that.   
  
She answered every time, though, to please him.   
  
Spaghetti. A little. Who?   
  
She tapped a finger upon her thoughtful mouth, staring past his shoulder. "I don't know..."   
  
Wasn't it an easy question, though? She wasn't sure how to answer.   
  
Close to him, she trailed a hand on his sleeve. "Well, I like red..."   
  
Then she looked into his eyes. "But green's better."   
  
  
- three -   
  
"Look!"   
  
He looked; up in the sky shot a star, streaking past in yellow through the smoke from his cigarette. He smiled; it was a nice thing to look at, if he had to look away from her.   
  
She turned her wide, bright eyes to him and said, "Make a wish." She closed her eyes, her face turning solemn. He did so too, and after a moment, they looked at each other again.   
  
"You're not supposed to tell anyone what you wish for, right?" he asked.   
  
She nodded. "That's right."   
  
He smiled sadly. "Then I'll never get to tell you."   
  
  
- four -   
  
"Ow ow ow..."   
  
"Hold STILL, will you?! I can't bandage you up properly if you keep squirming!"   
  
"But it hurts!"   
  
Meryl sighed. She really dreaded having to patch up Vash time and time again; it was a wonder the man didn't collapse from all the injuries.   
  
Milly came in with fresh bandages, ready to hand them to Meryl, but then stopped.   
  
"Senpai... do you smell tomato juice?"   
  
Meryl stopped as well, sniffing the air. Ah ha...   
  
"You're right, Milly. I do."   
  
They both stared at Vash. He tried to look completely innocent.   
  
"But I don't have any this time... honest!"   
  
  
- five -   
  
Lightning flashes in the sky, and I wonder if this planet will ever get rain. But it's virtually impossible, since there are no bodies of water large enough for rainclouds to form. I sigh, and I also wonder what it would be like to stand out in the rain, just dancing to the beat of the drops falling all around me, on me.   
  
Maybe it'd be better than my best dream. Maybe it would be the sweet salvation this land needs, just a quick, cool drink from the sky...   
  
Have you ever felt it rain, Vash?   
  
"Only inside of me."   
  
  
- six -   
  
She brushed a hand across the back of her head, studying the new feel it presented. It was so different today, but that was to be expected, now wasn't it?   
  
She looked up at her mother, saw her smiling down at her child, holding up a mirror to her face.   
  
"It looks very nice, Meryl. Do you like it?"   
  
Meryl nodded absently, her young eyes questing the vision before her. Turning her head either way, she inspected her new self.   
  
Meryl frowned. "It looks... feels so different, Mom!"   
  
Her mother laughed. "Of course, Meryl! You've never had short hair before!"   
  
  
- seven -   
  
A slap tilted his world side to side, vision rocking as he tried to maintain balance.   
  
"Get away from me, you creep!" The girl stalked off in a hurry, huffing and puffing about how she had just been mistreated. Of all the nerve, right?   
  
He didn't get it. After all, what was so bad about wanting a kiss? He'd never done it before... not before then, at least, and he'd heard the older boys talking about it...   
  
Yet now, cheek stinging like crazy, he saw girls for what they really were.   
  
A young Nicholas D. Wolfwood declared, "Girls are icky." 


	2. Pack Two

**Pack Two**   
  
  
- eight -   
  
"You mean... right now?!"   
  
She nodded, and he knew it to be true. They sped through the wedding like a sandstorm through town, hardly doing any of the traditional mumbo-jumbo, just going for a quick, legal ceremony. They kissed, and it wasn't anything particularly special, but the smile she gave him afterward made up for it all, and he felt good.   
  
Later on, they had their share of fun, to be truthful, and fell asleep in each other's arms. All was right in the world.   
  
Well, until morning. They woke up screaming bloody murder at the top of their lungs.   
  
  
- nine -   
  
It would have been really nice, Vash decided, if there had been a breeze blowing that morning. But no, of course not... No breeze.   
  
And he didn't really like to exercise in front of everyone as well. But that's what happened, when you got stuck in a one-room shack in the middle of nowhere. That had two beds, thankfully, so he was grateful for something.   
  
Self-consciously doing his push-ups in his poor cotton pants, he felt a pair of eyes on his back.   
  
"Senpai, what are you looking at?"   
  
Wolfwood chuckled.   
  
Meryl coughed and said, "Just enjoying the view, Milly."   
  
  
- ten -   
  
"That's a fruity color you're wearing, mister."   
  
Midvalley ruffled at the comment. That was really uncalled for, especially from this punk priest with an attitude, that had only been in the group for a few hours now. He had half a mind to blast that idiot's brains away with a good wail from Sylvia, but he had to be patient. He could put up with whatever the minister in black could throw.   
  
"Yeah, what about it?"   
  
Wolfwood shrugged. "I'm just saying, it's strange, that's all."   
  
Midvalley grumbled. "Well, you'd wear it too, if you grew up with six older sisters."   
  
  
- eleven -   
  
"Are we there yet?"   
  
"No."   
  
"...Are we there yet?"   
  
"No."   
  
"...Are we there yet?"   
  
"No!" Meryl threw her book, hitting him on the forehead.   
  
"Stupid, idiotic... Wolfwood! How much longer?!"   
  
The priest mumbled a curse and said, "Just a few more minutes of torture."   
  
After a while, they finally arrived. Oh, what a blessed event it was. Yet, Meryl reflected, it really wasn't for the best. When they got there, Vash had immediately jumped out of the car, giggling like a schoolgirl.   
  
Milly goggled. "It's so big..."   
  
Wolfwood nodded; Meryl muttered.   
  
Vash merely tried to eat the World's Largest Donut.   
  
  
- twelve -   
  
She always gave in, he knew, and for his trouble, she tried desperately to give back a little bit of what he had given her. Each and every time, but it was never enough, she knew. He knew too.   
  
She just couldn't win, could she? She couldn't have him, or his brother. She wanted his brother more, but she would settle for what was available. How pathetic.   
  
When she was still under him, he would chuckle, soft and low, and trace a finger across her chest. Write out a word, a sacred word, known only to him, and his brother.   
  
  
- thirteen -   
  
She never questioned the name he called out in the dark of the night. She could pretend all she liked that it was really her name, that it was disguised, that she was hearing things, but she just didn't want to face the truth of things.   
  
But she did the same thing too. She never said his name; it was always the other's name. His connection. His foil. The one he adored.   
  
He'd be above her, so very warm, and they'd exchange names with no fuss involved.   
  
Amazing, really, that they could both be swayed to take only second best.   
  
  
- fourteen -   
  
Vash fumbled at the cloth around his legs aimlessly, plucking and yanking at it nervously as Wolfwood looked on. Grinning, and smoking a damn cigarette.   
  
"Why are you making me do this?" he whined. And it wasn't fair, it really wasn't! This... _request_ came totally out of nowhere, and _how_ he got talked into it, he wasn't sure... but it wasn't right!   
  
Wolfwood merely smiled. "Just sit down."   
  
Vash obligingly sat, blowing air up into his scant bangs and watching as Wolfwood knelt before him, the cigarette gone.   
  
Before he lifted Vash's skirt, he said, "It's just fun like this." 


	3. Pack Three

**Pack Three**   
  
  
- fifteen -   
  
She upon her bed, he seated next to it, they gazed lovingly at each other across the great divide that separated them. Too many years had passed, they knew, and perhaps it was only fitting that they should come together one last time, at the very end.   
  
He held her hand gently, carefully; she reached up to caress his smooth cheek, and sighed.   
  
"I missed you."   
  
He smoothed away her fine, white hair. "I missed you."   
  
Suddenly, she said, "I love you, Vash."   
  
Leaning close, he replied, "I love you, Meryl."   
  
He kissed her softly, kissing her last breath away.   
  
  
- sixteen -   
  
Meryl fell asleep, and Vash got up from the bed. Walking to the door, he ran his fingers through his messy blonde hair. _It shouldn't be like this._   
  
"It shouldn't be like this." Wolfwood echoed his thoughts precisely, taking a drag and piercing Vash with his mysterious blue gaze. "Why do you do it?"   
  
Vash shrugged. "It... makes things easier, I think."   
  
"That's crap, and you know it."   
  
"...I know."   
  
Wolfwood shook his head. "You shouldn't do it to her. It's not right, if we--"   
  
Vash kissed him, effectively silencing him.   
  
"Come," he said, leading Wolfwood away into the night.   
  
  
- seventeen -   
  
They moved into the room, to the bed, caressing and stroking each other, taking clothes off piece by piece, and...   
  
Later, Meryl snuggled close to Vash, smiling and generally feeling content with herself and her state of affairs at the moment.   
  
"You're so sexy," she murmured, trailing an idle finger down his chest, sometimes touching upon one of the many permanent marks.   
  
"Ahh."   
  
"I want things to be like this forever..."   
  
"Ahh."   
  
She frowned. "What's wrong, Vash? You've hardly said a word to me."   
  
Vash stared at the ceiling, oblivious of Meryl.   
  
"I'm so scarred, I can't feel anything anymore."   
  
  
- eighteen -   
  
She cut her hair; why'd she do that?   
  
She struggled against him, trying to break free of his grasp, but no, he'd never let her go... never. She could forever think that she was not his, that she could be free to do as she please, with his _brother,_ of all people, but she would be wrong.   
  
So very wrong.   
  
"You shouldn't have cut your hair, my dear...," he murmured, breathing in her scent, his nose by the nape of her neck.   
  
"I'll have to do something about that, Rem." He smiled.   
  
Meryl screamed. "I'M NOT REM!"   
  
Knives kept smiling.   
  
  
- nineteen -   
  
Legato woke up, then winced as fresh pain radiated down his left arm. Someone, a doctor, said, "Don't move just yet; you still have to recover."   
  
He didn't care, of course. Just pain, after all, and it was for a good cause. So he slept, and when he woke again, Midvalley stood over him, eyeing his arm.   
  
His new arm.   
  
Legato chuckled. "Surprised?"   
  
Midvalley shook his head. "No. But how does it feel to gain... that man's severed limb, for our master?"   
  
The blue-haired man thought about this a moment, then came up with an answer.   
  
"Like losing some humanity."   
  
  
- twenty -   
  
Knives sighed gently as he stared at the apple tree. Legato stood behind, waiting.   
  
"I was told once," Knives began, "plants are so strong, they only think of living, and thus don't need words." He turned. "What do you think of this, Legato?"   
  
"I think it is a sound statement, Master."   
  
Knives turned back, then walked to the tree and plucked a ripe red apple from a branch.   
  
"We eat its fruit to survive... perhaps one day, I shall be eaten too?"   
  
Legato immediately said, "Of course not, Master."   
  
Knives said nothing; instead, he bit into the apple and grinned.   
  
  
- twenty-one -   
  
Small sniffling sounds could be heard outside the door, making Knives grimace. He pressed a key, the door opened, and he floated in, to the balled-up form that was his brother. The door hissed shut, and he held Vash to him.   
  
"Did Steve..." He didn't finish, and had no need to, since Vash nodded and gulped in air.   
  
"I-I just... wanted..."   
  
"It's okay, Vash, it's okay..." He pulled back and looked at his twin, noting the red, bleary face.   
  
He hated humans. But he'd make it better.   
  
Quietly, he kissed Vash, making him start.   
  
Smiling, Knives said, "Trust me, Vash." 


End file.
